The Pirate Prince
Lords of the Var: A Qurilixen World Novel
Michelle M. Pillow®
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The Pirate Prince (Lords of the Var®) © copyright 2006 – 2018 by Michelle M. Pillow
Third Electronic Printing September 2015, Anniversary Edition, The Raven Books
Second Electronic Printing January 2011
First Electronic Printing February 2006
Cover art © Copyright 2015
ISBN 9781452474977
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Published by The Raven Books LLC
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This novel is a work of fiction. Any and all characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events or places is merely coincidence.
Michelle M. Pillow® and Lords of the Var® are registered trademarks of The Raven Books LLC
Contents
About The Pirate Prince
About the Lords of the Var Series
Michelle’s Bestselling Series
Author Updates
Note from the Author
King Attor of the Var
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
The cursed crew…
Mei’s Family…
The series continues…
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About Michelle M. Pillow
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About The Pirate Prince
Cat-shifter Prince Jarek sails the high sky doing what he pleases…that is until drug dealers kidnap one of his men. But the rescue mission goes wrong and instead of a crewman, he liberates a woman who he believes is desperately trying to escape her captors. He soon discovers he unwittingly kidnaped a princess.
Princess Mei has just learned her future from a seer, and it seems fate is giving her in marriage to a neighboring ruler. She will do her duty, but first she wants to experience an adventure. When the pirates come to steal, she knows exactly who she wants that adventure to be.
About the Lords of the Var Series
The cat-shifter princes were raised to not believe in love, especially love for one woman, and they will do everything in their power to live up to their father’s expectations. Oh, how the mighty will fall.
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Lords of the Var® series is a continuation of the bestselling romance series, Dragon Lords, and is part of the Qurilixen World. They can be read as standalones, but the author recommends reading books in order of release.
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For details please visit www.michellepillow.com
Michelle’s Bestselling Series
Qurilixen World Novels
Dragon Lords Series
Barbarian Prince
Perfect Prince
Dark Prince
Warrior Prince
His Highness The Duke
The Stubborn Lord
The Reluctant Lord
The Impatient Lord
The Dragon’s Queen
Lords of the Var® Series
The Savage King
The Playful Prince
The Bound Prince
The Rogue Prince
The Pirate Prince
Qurilixen Lords
Dragon Prince
More Coming Soon!
Captured by a Dragon-Shifter Series
Determined Prince
Rebellious Prince
Stranded with the Cajun
Hunted by the Dragon
Mischievous Prince
Headstrong Prince
Space Lords Series
His Frost Maiden
His Fire Maiden
His Metal Maiden
His Earth Maiden
His Woodland Maiden
Dynasty Lords Series
Seduction of the Phoenix
Temptation of the Butterfly
Having trouble finding the books?
Updated Buy Links Here
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To learn more about the Qurilixen World series of books and to stay up to date on the latest book list visit www.MichellePillow.com
Author Updates
Join the Reader Club Mailing List to stay informed about new books, sales, contests and preorders!
http://michellepillow.com/author-updates/
Note from the Author
Dragon Lords fans know the cat-shifting Var as being the villains of the story, but every conflict has two sides. With King Attor dead, it is up to the Var princes to pick up the pieces. Though these stories can be read as a standalone series, they do begin where the Dragon Lords left off, most significantly after Dragon Lords 4: Warrior Prince. There is also a prequel story, Dragon Lords 9: The Dragon’s Queen that tells the story of how Attor became the cat-shifter king and how the Var-Draig war really started.
Lords of the Var® are interconnected to many series installments, including: Dragon Lords, Captured by a Dragon-Shifter (the dragon-shifters and cat-shifters in modern day times), Space Lords, Zhang Dynasty and more. To find out more about the books, including reading orders, visit my website, www.MichellePillow.com.
As an added bonus in the Lords of the Var® series, see cameo appearances from some of your favorite Dragon Lords prince and princesses.
To stay informed about when a new book in the series installments is released, join my newsletter mailing list at: http://michellepillow.com/newslettersignup/
To the men and women, who risk their lives to make the world just a little bit better, be it military, law enforcement, firemen, or just your ordinary everyday heroes and heroines. And to the people who help others, no matter how small the task. To all of you, thanks.
King Attor of the Var
“A woman has the potential to be the ruination of men and kingdoms.
The only question is, my son, will you let one ruin you?”
1
Imperial Palace of the Zhang Dynasty, Honorable City, Muntong Territory, Planet of Lintian
“You are with child.” The words were soft, carried as if on a gentle breeze.
Princess Zhang Mei blinked in shock, pausing in mid-action. She was in the process of setting down a jug of wine on the Sacred Chamber’s altar as an offering to her deceased ancestor. Out of all the things her dead great-grandmother could’ve told her, that was the least expected. Her great-grandmother made a small noise when Mei didn’t move to finish her task. Slowly Mei set the offering on the low round table and stepped back. For a long moment, she stared at the jug inlaid with gold thread in the blue glass. It was a pretty piece, one her great-grandmother would enjoy in her afterlife, but not as much as the wine it contained.
Mei wasn’t frightened to see her great-grandmother’s spirit. The ancestors were known to show themselves to those they wished to guide and, since her death, Zhang An had been residing in the
sacred room hidden within the walls of the Hall of Infinite Wisdom located in their home, the Imperial Palace. Vast surrounding walls protected the palace. The compound behind the walls was referred to as Honorable City because the palace was in fact like a small city for the royal family. The family never needed to leave the palace and rarely did so.
The palace walls were surrounded on the outside by a thick moat with only two known entrances, one in the front and one in the back of the large rectangular complex. The Hall of Infinite Wisdom was only one of many buildings within the complex, located in the center. However, it was the largest structure, set high upon stone and towering over the surrounding courtyard and gardens.
Mei wished they left the city more often. Some of her best memories were from when she traveled with her sister, Fen. They’d often go to Lady Hsin’s to see how the silk worms produced the luxurious silk for their clothing, or to the countryside, just to fly over in the family’s tu di hang, a land craft that soared over the lush scenery like the ancient junk boats that used to sail over the seas of planet Old Earth.
But those times were too far apart to suit Mei. She’d been born with the need for adventure, a need that burned inside her until she was forced to swallow down her abhorrence of the palace walls. Burying her wanderlust, she knew that first and foremost, she was a Zhang princess and so would honor her family and do her duty by her people, no matter the personal cost. Besides, the confinement only made the trips she took all the sweeter, like the foray across the Satlyun River she was about to take with her oldest brother, Prince Haun.
Seeing her great-grandmother’s face, Mei whispered, “What? What did you say?”
“You are with child,” her great-grandmother repeated, smiling.
Mei stiffened. That’s what she thought the woman had said. Why was the spirit smiling?
What did this mean? A baby? Her? Now? It didn’t sound right. How could this…?
Dazed, Mei looked around the room. The Sacred Chamber was ornate, yet barren of all but a few objects of great importance. Gold lined the walls in an intricate design. The basin itself was carved with the revered phoenix of her people. Aside from the basin and offering table, there was the collection of the precious jade their ancestors had brought with them from Earth during the journey to Lintian. Its green color was sacred, more so than the purple jade mined across the river by Emperor Song’s people. The artifacts were kept safe behind a plate of glass, the most precious being the powerful Jade Phoenix. The bronzed bird was surrounded by smaller pieces of the precious green stone. Its delicate feathers were fashioned in a way that should have been impossible in metalwork. Jewels were inlaid into the bronze, but none was as stunning as the large green stone on the bird’s chest. To even look upon it was an honor, reserved for the royal family and a few honored souls.
“No, no I can’t be,” Mei insisted, feeling her flat stomach. “You are certain?”
“Yes. Very certain,” Zhang An answered. The spirit was dressed in the old style. Her long sleeves swept over the floor as she walked near her granddaughter. The delicate silk robe made even more so by the fact that it traveled on air. Every movement was silent, like the breeze. Her wrinkled, pale face was transparent, shading with each subtle movement, threatening to blow away completely. Long, dark hair streaked with white flowed around her shoulders. Tradition from her time of life would have been to wear it up, but An was proud of her locks and, being dead, wasn’t dictated by such traditions. Besides, what could be done about it? She was already dead. “I consulted all the powers—the oracle bones, the divining basin, even the wind. Each say the same thing.”
Pregnant? Me?
“But, how…?” Mei could barely move.
Her great-grandmother laughed. “You should speak to your mother as to the how. I only foresee the future.”
Mei didn’t find the woman very funny. She knew how, just not how.
How could this happen? And with whom?
“When?” Mei asked, shaking. She followed her floating great-grandmother with her eyes, afraid if she moved her locked knees she’d collapse in shock.
“Within sixteen moons, give or take,” An answered, smiling.
Sixteen moons? That was only about eight months!
“Whose is it?” Mei pressed her hand tighter to her flat stomach and thought of all the men of the Muntong court. None of them appealed to her as a husband figure, but all of them would be willing to marry a Zhang princess. To deny her hand would be foolish indeed. She had the power of her family, money, land, and status.
“I see blood,” her great-grandmother answered ominously as if going into a trance as the visions overtook her. Her dark brown eyes glazed over with white as she moved to a basin within the center of the sacred chamber. A cool breeze stirred the room as the woman asked the wind for answers. Her hair lifted all around her in a wild tangle of windswept fury.
Mei knew her great-grandmother listened to the elements because the wind also whispered to her. It was her gift, her power, bestowed upon her at birth by the Jade Phoenix. Mei could hear the promptings of the wind and, though her own talent wasn’t as developed, she knew that it would whisper its secrets into her great-grandmother’s ear. Often, she thought that was why she felt the need to be free, to fly like the wind because she had felt the presence in her since the cradle. As a child, she’d dream of flying, soaring high into the starry heavens. Mei wished the wind would take her now, right now, lifting her up and taking her past the palace walls to deep space where she could float for an eternity.
“Royal blood,” An added in a monotone, drawing her mind back to Lintian. “The baby will be of royal blood.”
“But I am royal, Grandmother,” Mei said needlessly, trying to figure out the riddle that the future put before them. Sometimes Mei wished her family couldn’t see the pieces. Often it created more confusion than it clarified.
Mei’s stomach tightened, and she was afraid she’d be sick. Or was her great-grandmother implying Prince Song Lok? He was the son of the only other empire on Lintian, the Song Dynasty located across the Satlyun River. The river flowed through the center of their planet, separating the territories of Muntong and Singhai. Lok was the only male heir to the throne though he had three sisters—triplets. Mei had never met the Song daughters, and she’d met Prince Lok only once, a long time ago.
Not that there was any reason she would be introduced to the triplets. The two empires never really saw eye to eye. Emperor Song ruled the Singhai Empire in the west, and Mei’s parents ruled the Muntong Empire in the east. In between the two territories was the Satlyun River, circling from north to south in the exact center of the planet of Lintian. The giant river was a marvel of nature, so wide it was impossible to swim across. It was one of the main reasons that the two empires did not fight. Though they didn’t agree on much, peace was something the Lintianese cherished.
Was her marriage to Prince Lok going to ensure continued peace? Was that the real reason she was compelled to accompany her oldest brother, Haun, on his trip across the Satlyun? Was marriage talk in the works? What exactly was her great-grandmother not saying? Or was she saying it and Mei just didn’t want to hear the words?
“The blood I speak of is not of the Zhang line. It is foreign.” An gave her a pointed look.
Mei grimaced. Lok. She had to mean Lok.
“Married?” another voice intruded.
Instantly Mei stiffened as she turned at the sound of her father, the emperor’s, voice. He wore a yellow robe decorated with red dragons and symbols. The red and yellow were the colors of royalty. It matched the buildings—all of which had yellow tiled roofs and dark red walls.
The emperor stood in the doorway, a look of supreme happiness on his face. If this were true, Mei would be the first of his children to marry. Her older sister, Fen, and four brothers, Haun, Jin, Lian and Shen had yet to take that step. Mei was the youngest and by all rights she should be the last expected to marry. That was how it was traditionally done.
This isn’t fair.
“Yes,” her great-grandmother answered. “And with child.”
“You’re sure?” the emperor asked, his smile widening as he looked down at his daughter’s waist. The news pleased him greatly.
Mei touched her stomach, gasping, “No! We’re not sure. Honored grandmother was just going to look again.”
“Yes,” her great-grandmother put forth. “We are sure.”
“No,” Mei repeated. “We. Are. Not.”
“This is a most happy day.” Emperor Zhang beamed. The two elders ignored her as they spoke to each other.
“A most happy day,” An agreed. “My granddaughter should be told at once. She will want to hear this blessed news.”
“Yes, the empress will be most excited to hear of Mei’s wedding,” the emperor agreed. “And most pleased by news of a grandchild.”
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